Myths and Legends
by OnlyOneKebab
Summary: 50 years ago there were ten thousand Jedi in a galaxy of billions of life forms, their legacy now all but forgotten. 30 years ago Luke Skywalker single-handedly defeated the two most powerful people in the Empire thanks to the Jedi's teachings. That was what the rebels said, at least. If it was true, why had no one heard from him? Was he just a myth, and the Jedi only legends?
1. Chapter 1

**My take on how people in the OT and ST think the Jedi are myths and whatnot.**

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Thirty years ago the Rebel Alliance had taken Coruscant, finally ending the Galactic Civil War. A monument to Mon Mothma had been erected to commemorate all she had done for the galaxy, she was the leader of the rebellion, the reason the Empire had been toppled. It was only logical after all. That was the official history, of course. But what the pilots and traders talked about in the cantina was far more interesting. A man named Luke Skywalker had made the greatest shot in all of history, down a narrow exhaust port barely two meters wide, and had destroyed a superweapon that had destroyed an entire planet. The Death Star. That pilot had made the luckiest shot in the history of the galaxy, they always said. Information was sparse about the years between the Death Stars. Then he was at the destruction of Death Star II, supposedly he had defeated Darth Vader _and_ the Emperor, somehow getting off the station just in time. But no one believed that, they all said it was rebel propaganda.

After that he had disappeared for years. Battles were fought and won between the Rebels who became the New Republic, and Imperial strongholds and various other groups that wanted them to return to the old ways. Everyone had heard the legendary acts of General Leia Organa and her husband Han Solo. The former even became a prominent leader in the New Republic government. Eventually their lives tapered down, focusing on rebuilding rather than conquering. So in the meantime rumors went back and forth of Luke resurfacing, using something called 'the Force', a remnant of some ancient group that predated the Empire. But again he went silent, no one knowing what had happened to him.

"I'm telling you, he stood ten feet in front of me. It had to be him!" the older man exclaimed. He had served in the rebellion in his younger years, and was keeping up the fight against the First Order, a shadowy group she was beginning to hear more and more about.

"It's impossible, that ancient cult died out before the Empire," a young woman her age countered.

"Cauterized wounds, limbs separated. A masked man with a red blade. It's Darth Vader, back from the grave!" the older man nearly shouted, attracting surly looks from other patrons of the cantina. Noticing the hostility, he leaned in closer to the fellow pilot. "I saw this when I was a young man, Luke Skywalker-"

"Luke Skywalker! The only thing I believe about him is that he made a near-impossible shot thanks to his targeting computer, the rest are just stories old man," she said, slamming her hands down on the table. "I'm gonna go check and see if the ship is ready, you have fun fantasizing about hokey religions," she said shortly, placing some credits on the counter before leaving.

"His computer was off," the old man mumbled. He looked over to where she was sitting, and waved his hand. "Come on, I know you've been listening." Timidly the girl stepped forward, unaccustomed to being called out in situations like this. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Rey," she said quietly.

"Rey, what do you know about the Jedi?" he inquired. She shrugged, unsure of what he wanted. He sighed, slightly frustrated at her lack of speaking.

"Well I want you to know it's true, all of it. The Force, the Jedi, lightsabers, the dark side. Every bit of it is real," he told her, turning back to his drink. She didn't show it, but a glimmer of hope returned inside of her.

Without a sound, she slid off the bar stool and out into the cold desert night of Jakku.


	2. Chapter 2

She returned to the cantina to listen to the stories of pilots as she always did, and was surprised to see the old drunk from the night before. Unsure of what else to do, she took her usual seat near the end of the bar, next to the table that always hosted pilots from distant star systems. The old man recognized her and waved her over, while the younger smugglers argued over who had made the Corellian Run in the fast time.

"You're the girl from last night?" he said, "Rey?".

She nodded slowly, wondering why he had waved her over so eagerly.

"You're the only one who believes me, you know? I'm not sure if it's because you're naive or stupid, but either way it's nice to talk to someone who thinks I'm sane," the man continued in his gruff voice. He looked her up and down, and shook his head. "You're not much of a talker are you?" Rey shook her head, again wondering what the point of all this was.

"My name is Voroll, I'm from Taris," he told her, extending his hand. Rey shook it, relaxing a little bit.

"Where is that?" she finally asked.

"Outer Rim," he said.

"What's it like?"

"Nothing impressive. You either live in a wasteland or a skyscraper," Voroll explained, kicking back a drink as he finished.

"Which one were you in?"

"So many questions," he commented, half-joking. "The wasteland. Hopped on a freighter going off-world and never looked back. How about you? Where do you come my mononymic friend."

"Here," she answered bluntly. It was easier than admitting she had no idea.

"Ever been off-world?"

"No. You said you knew Luke Skywalker?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Not personally, but I've seen what he's capable of. And Darth Vader," he added, looking off into the distance for a brief moment. "There's stuff out there you wouldn't believe. You'd think after flying freighters for thirty years I'd see all there is."

"When did you see them?" the drunk shifted in his chair, thinking of something that had happened decades ago.

"I was twenty-five years old, Death Star II had been destroyed, and most of the Imperial strongholds had fallen. The last one we had to take was Carida, which used to house the Imperial Academy. You can imagine how bloody the battle was. Five months of fighting between young Imperial officers trying to prove their loyalty to a lost cause, and rebels who had lost everything to the Empire. We were at a stalemate, the rebels had half the Academy but the Imperials held the armory. General Dodonna was leading us, and he called in someone he just called Skywalker. We had been fighting for months, and didn't see how bringing in a pilot who used a targeting computer to bring down the first Death Star was going to help us in terrain combat.

"We were preparing for the afternoon assault, everyone was running around, looking for ammo, parts, water, armor, anything you can imagine needing in battle. We hear a ship approach, and it's a junk X-Winger that was never cannibalized. We figured it was air support or something, and kept about our business. I was injured, so I was the one in charge of air support. I made my way over as quickly as I could, not wanting to be out in the open when the firing started. The pilot stepped out, and it was like this calm fell over everyone. Suddenly it seemed like the afternoon assault was a huge possibility, not something you could set your watch to. The sun was shining brighter, the air was moving, it felt like we were on a different planet.

"He stepped out of the shadow of his ship, and my first thought was, 'wow, he's small,' and it was true. He had maybe a couple inches on Princess Leia. The other thing that puzzled me was that he was so young, younger than me, but his eyes looked like my grandfathers. That was when I knew this had to be Luke Skywalker. No way Dodonna would let some kid fly out here unattended unless he had dome some major stuff for the Alliance. I took him straight to the General's tent, and went back to my post."

"He made you feel calm, and that's how you knew he was a Jedi?" Rey interrupted, disbelief beginning to spread across her face. Voroll had sounded like he had fought side-by-side with Luke Skywalker, not seen him walk a few yards to a tent. She had come here hoping to hear about there was more to a galaxy than desert and poverty and slavery and crime, but all this man could tell her was old war stories.

"No no no," Voroll countered. "I haven't even gotten to the fight."

"I'm in a tent with the rest of air support, we would watch monitors from the fighters and some of the cameras we had access to in the Academy, listen to the transmissions from the ground, and tell the pilots where to go. It was incredibly chaotic, a thousand different things vying for your attention. The Imperials started firing down at us from the dormitories. It wasn't as bad as the previous days, but it was still hard to keep track of who needed what. I'm keeping an eye on the inside, and I see a green lightsaber moving down the hallway. For a moment I forgot about what I was doing, and just followed the blade. Its movements were so clean and precise, and Luke was so calm and purposeful with what he was doing. He deflected blaster bolts back into the guns, stunned the Imperial officers. I felt like I had been watching him for ages, but it only took him fifteen minutes to reach the armory. After that I didn't have access to the feeds, but ten minutes later the Imperials stopped firing.

"We all moved in to secure the building, and the two hundred or so Imperials who had remained at the Academy were in one of the bays waiting for us, unarmed. Apparently when Skywalker made it into their command center he convinced them to give up the fight, and brought them all down to the commons so they wouldn't be hit if we continued to shell them. We eventually took control of the building, and the leaders all met up in one of the offices with Luke. While they were discussing surrender, a bunch of the rebels started up rumors that Luke and his squad of rebels had taken control of their command center by force and led them down to the commons. It didn't make any sense, ten rebels taking control of hundreds of officers. But that became the official story."

"A few hours later they came out, and we found out the Imperials had agreed to turn the Academy over to the New Republic, but they had to get rid of anything from the Empire. Somehow they even convinced other strongholds to surrender too. The brass started dispersing people to do cleanup or go over to medical, and I was one of the latter. I was laying on a makeshift bed, waiting for someone to look at my leg that had been messed up the week before, and I saw Luke Skywalker just milling around, talking to people. You're too young to be around for those days, but the guys at the top never spent too much time with the grunts. Eventually he made his way over to me, and he just carried a conversation like we were old friends who hadn't seen each other in a few years. Turns out he was from Tatooine, which isn't too different from this planet. He talked with me for maybe half an hour, and then he asked me what was wrong with me. I told him my leg got messed up by one of the Imperial shells but it was at the bottom of the triage. He said he'd help me out with it, and then he puts his hands on my leg. It started feeling really warm, and the kid looked like he was meditating, and then the pain in my leg just disappeared. He told me he would see me around, and then left me alone to rest. I've got pain in all my joints, but not in that leg. And morale was never better than when he was there. I'm telling you, his whole atmosphere, the way that Force magic affected us _and_ the Imperials, there's no way it's not real." Voroll leaned back in his seat, done telling his tale for the night, and watched her face for any sign of reaction.

Rey sat in silence, not sure what to think. Luke Skywalker learned to use a magical power and suddenly everything was dandy and went his way? If it were real everyone in the galaxy would be doing it, wouldn't they?

"So only this one person in the entire galaxy can do all that?" she asked skeptically. But no matter what it sounded like and no matter what she thought, something inside her knew it was real, that it had to be true. No one person could make this all up, could they?

"No, there was another one, but he's very, very different," Voroll said coldy, shuddering at some distant memory. "He's the one that's back, Luke will have to stop him aga-,"

"Are you filling her head with nonsense too?" the pilot from the last night cut in, pulling Voroll's drink away. He grabbed for it, but only succeeded in knocking over one of the young smugglers drinks.

"Hey!" the man shouted, "you owe me that!"

"Don't leave your drinks where they can get knocked over," Voroll spat. The man stood up and raised his fist, sending Rey scampering into the corner, but the woman pilot intervened.

"I'm sorry, my friend has had too much to drink," she said, moving between the two. Hooking her arm under his, she lifted him up from his chair. "Here," she said, handing him a few credits." The man glowered at her and the credits, but went back to arguing with his friends. Sighing she turned her attention to Vorollo, who seemed to have fallen asleep after the excitement.

"This is why we're barred from seven planets," she mumbled to herself as she tried to shuffle him out. Spotting Rey, she shook her head. "How old are you? Nine? Don't you have someone else to read you bedtime stories?" shaking her head, she helped her friend out into the night.

Slowly, Rey poked her head out to make sure the coast was clear. Disturbances were hardly uncommon in Jakku cantinas, but they had a tendency to rile up other customers.

Spotting the yougn human girl, the bartender yelled, "Get out of here you cantina rat!", reaching for a blaster rifle. Frightened, Rey scurried out of the cantina and into the street as fast as she could. The sooner she got home, the sooner she would be safe.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been four days since Rey had last heard from Voroll. Four days of scavenging the remains of Imperial ships and turning the parts in for meager shares of food. Four days of wondering what it would be like to have someone like Luke on Jakku. A Jedi. No one here could make people feel what Luke Skywalker made the rebels feel that day. Sure she was looked after by some of the other scavengers, but they would drop her for an extra ration if the opportunity presented itself. For once in her life, Rey wished she hadn't been born eleven years after the fall of the Empire. She could have joined the rebels, and seen Luke in person. She would have put up with tyranny of the Imperials to meet someone like that, even if it was only for a day.

But part of what Voroll had said bothered her. He had talked of another Jedi, one who was 'different' from Luke, and from his tone it hadn't been in a good way. Was that what had happened to Luke? Had he come back and destroyed him? It was a tale as old as time on Jakku. Nothing good could thrive here.

She was so lost in her thoughts she nearly bumped into someone, and quickly maneuvered around them. She was too small for most to bother with, but even apparent disrespect was not taken lightly on Jakku. The familiar grimy building was in front of her, and again she peered in the cantina window. A smile formed at the edges of her mouth at the sight of the old man.

Avoiding the bartenders watchful eye, she snuck to the back table, and tapped the old man on the shoulder as she slid into the chair next to him, his large frame blocking the bartenders view of her.

"I thought you had left," Rey said quietly.

"Had to run some parts back to Corellia, but we're here again for the time being. Have you been keeping yourself busy?" Voroll asked.

"Yes. I even got some extra rations this week!" she answered excitedly. Voroll gave her an odd look, but took another sip of his drink. A moment of silence passed, the old man lost in his own memories, and the young girl thinking about one of the tastier rations she had received. The silence seemed to slap Rey in the face, and she noticed how withdrawn her companion was.

"You're awfully quiet."

"I've been thinking about some things," he said vaguely.

"Like the other Jedi?" she asked. He raised his eyebrows in confusion, but his expression switched to one of pain when he realized what she was referring to.

"That was no Jedi," he said tersely, finishing off his drink.

"What was he then?"

"A Sith."

"What's a Sith?"

"The opposite of a Jedi."

"Did he destroy Luke?" Again the old man's eyebrows arched, this time from surprise.

"What made you think that?"

"You won't talk about the Sith, and no one has heard from Luke in ages. And you get sad at the thought of Luke, like he's dead."

"He's not-, it's not-," the drunk stammered. It had been years since he had been forced to think about what he had seen, and only now because of the girl's incessant pestering. Any other person he would have told them to get lost, but she genuinely believed in what he was saying, and didn't ridicule him.

 _She's a child, what did you expect_ _?_ a voice said, and he shook his head. Age be damned, someone else in the galaxy was going to know what Force users were capable of, and that they were very, _very_ real.

"If I tell, you can't ask me about the Sith again, agreed?" Rey nodded timidly, unsure of what he was going to tell her. Clearing his throat, Voroll began to tell his story.

"I had been off Taris for a few years, and was working security for the Princess of Alderaan-," he started slowly.

"What's that?"

"What _was_ that, you mean," Voroll corrected her, a bitter look crossing his face. "It was a beautiful planet, but the Empire destroyed it," he shook his head. A 'core-stripping' machine. What were they thinking, believing in nonsense like that?

"Voroll?" he heard the young girl say, and he nodded, coming back to the present.

"Anyway, we were being boarded by the Imperials, since Princess Leia was one of the leaders of the resistance. We didn't know it at the time, but she had plans for the Death Star. The Imperials were hot on our trail, they had even managed to board our ship. I had friends in the hallway the Sith boarded...," his voice trailed off, but he swallowed and continued. "My friend Olak, he had the disk, and he was trapped on the other side of the door. There was no power in his section, all we could see were sparks and blaster bolts, and that awful red lightsaber. I was down the hallway facing the door in case Leri needed cover fire when he retrieved the disk, even through that small window...," he grew silent for a moment, only to shake his head.

"What did he have to do with Luke?" Rey asked. None of this made any sense. The stories she always heard had Luke boarding the Death Star II and killing Vader and the Emperor, the rulers of the Empire.

"Everything. During the Battle of Endor, Luke snuck onto the second Death Star and confronted Vader and Palpatine. The next part though," he said, looking around as if someone were going to challenge him, "everyone thinks I'm crazy."

 _They already do,_ Rey thought to herself. The faintest of smiles appeared on her face, and Voroll took it as a sign of encouragement.

"After what I saw of Luke on Carida, the way he handled those cadets, I don't think he could have killed anyone. There was never any malice to him, and if he didn't kill anyone on Carida... I'm not saying I know what happened on the Death Star, I just don't believe he killed the two of them. It doesn't make any sense. If he could talk down an entire compound of Imperials..." he shook his head.

"So why did he leave?" Rey asked.

"I don't know, I don't know," Voroll echoed, looking off at something far away. "But he'll come back."

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 **Thank you very much for reading! Please leave a review on what you did/didn't like! I appreciate any feedback and always strive to improve my writing!**


	4. Chapter 4

For the twenty-second day in a row, Rey walked the familiar path to the rundown cantina. For the twenty-second time she looked in the window, and was disappointed that Voroll wasn't there, again. But this time she saw his smuggler partner, a woman she learned was called Ridiu.

Slowly walking so as not to attract the attention of the bartender, Rey gently tapped the woman on the shoulder, startling her. The woman's face shifted from surprise to annoyance when she saw the scavenger.

"Voroll isn't here," she scowled.

"Will he be back?" Rey asked timidly. Ridiu shook her head.

"First Order got ahold of him smuggling some New Republic propoganda, haven't heard from him since. Can't imagine they're happy about him blabbing about Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker either," she said grimly, her eyes staring off at something the others in the cantina couldn't see. Shaking her head, she brought her focus back to the girl in front of her. "He meant a lot to you and everything, but don't expect Voroll to come staggering in here like he used to," she said, a trace of empathy in her voice. Without another word she laid some credits on the table and made her way out into the night.

Crestfallen, Rey shuffled out of the cantina, not wanting to look at the beige walls any longer than she had to. Taking off at a run, she sprinted back to her partially-constructed swoop, and took off across the dunes. Voroll had been her only point of contact with the outside world, the only person who could give her real hope on this barren planet. And now he had vanished, just like Luke Skywalker.

Back at the down AT-AT she called home, Rey ran to the computer simulator she had scavenged from an old starfighter. Scanning through the finals and simulations, she tried to hold back any other thoughts of Voroll. She could learn anything she wanted to on it, the types of ships from both the Old Republic and the Empire, what they did in combat, alien languages, schematics for the ships, piloting emulations, whatever the computer had to offer. But all of that paled in comparison to what Voroll had told her about. A real life Jedi, not one on a computer screen.

Leaning back against the walls of the AT-AT, she closed her eyes. What was she going to do now? Jakku seemed to crush anything good that entered it's atmosphere, and she was beginning to wonder when her luck would run out. She was fifteen on a planet where hitting forty was a rarity. Was her life already halfway over and she didn't know it already? Would she be out scavenging one day and come across the wrong people, the same way Voroll had flying across the galaxy?

 _Calm down,_ a voice in her head said, _you're getting all worked up over nothing_.

"But it's not nothing, Voroll is as good as dead," she said to herself, putting her face in her hands. Voroll had been one of the few people she had known on the planet who saw her as more than an excellent scavenger, and now he was gone, just like all the others. All she had left to look forward to was her family coming back for her. They may not have known what Jakku was like when they left her here, but it had been years, and no doubt they had heard stories of the harsh life on the planet. They were probably saving up money now to come and get her, all she needed to do was wait for them to come.

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The next day while scouring a star destroyer, Rey talked to her fellow scavengers a little bit less, keeping to the more isolated parts of the ship. As the days went on, she spoke to them on fewer and fewer occasions, only trading advice and experiences at Plutt's tent. There was no more talk of the Jedi and the Empire, as all the older folks who had seen them in power had long since gone. The stories Voroll told her largely fell into the back of her mind, only coming out late on a cold winters night, or when there was total silence in a ship she was scavenging.

She wouldn't think of the stories seriously again in a long time, until she came across a BB-8 unit in the desert, four years later.

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 **And that's the end, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed the read and please don't forget to review!**


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